Interaction on tourism rules and policies organized

The HR Development and Training Department of Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) recently organized an interaction with representatives of different government agencies on rules and policies for the tourism industry, particularly the trekking sector. In the program, representatives of different trekking agencies lambasted government authorities for making changes in rules and policies without informing the concerned stakeholders.

They were referring to the recent increment in bank guarantee amount and introduction of a new rule by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) that requires tourism enterprises to report about their foreign currency transactions each month. “Business enterprises must submit the report of the monthly foreign currency earned within 15 days of the next month to the central bank,” Rabindra Maharjan, deputy director of NRB, said,  adding that now the agencies will be issued a license for one year and if one fails to renew it within six months, it will be scrapped.

The central bank has also increased the bank guarantee to issue foreign exchange transaction license to Rs 50,000. During the program, Uttam Bhakta Wagle of Inland Revenue Department, Ram Prasad Koirala of Immigration Department, Surya Prasad Gautam of Copmany Registrar’s Office, Dhruba Rai of Nepal Tourism Board amd Mohan Krishna Sapkota of Tourism Industry Division under the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation answered queries raised by TAAN member agencies. Meanwhile, TAAN also conducted a demonstration of online-based software for Trekkers’ Information Management System (TIMS) that it plans to implement in the near future.

Once the new software is introduced, trekkers can apply for TIMS card from anywhere in the world and collect the cards at authorized TIMS centers by producing a unique number given to them at the time of filing application.